Art in defence of FIFO

By Rebecca Brewin

Sick of the negativity surrounding fly-in fly-out workers and their lifestyles, Rockingham artist Andy Quilty set out to provide an honest depiction of the workforce that keeps the mining industry moving and to prove that FIFO is not a dirty word.

Andy Quilty is not a FIFO worker, but most of his mates are. Tired of hearing cliched quips about 'cashed-up bogans' with five jet skis, Mr Quilty aims to depict FIFO workers as he knows them; honest and hardworking.

A recent 6-week residency in the Pilbara funded by Rio Tinto for winning the portraiture prize in the 2011 Cossack Art Awards, kick started the former surfboard artist's fascination with the FIFO workforce and its depiction.

"I had touched on the subject of FIFO in my first exhibition but I left the idea for a bit and then did a six week residency in Cossack just near Roebourne up north," he said.

"The FIFO thing up there is just incredible, I stayed with a friend of mine who's lived in Karratha his whole life and the change up there's just phenomenal, 90 per cent of the population now appears to be FIFO up there.

"It's just such a significant change in the WA working landscape and I'm very interested in the shift of money, now all these working class kind of people are pretty cashed up."

His piece entitled FIFO #1 is a portrait of a mine worker in Karratha. Hard work is etched into the worker's face; every hour, every flight, every moment away from his family captured in intricate lines of ballpoint pen. A standard issue high-visibility shirt rests on his shoulders.

FIFO #1 recently took the top gong and the mining award at the City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder's annual Art Prize.

Philip, the man depicted in FIFO #1 is from Bunbury and is saving for his upcoming wedding. His fiance is also a FIFO worker. Mr Quilty said stories like theirs are often lost beneath urban myths of FIFO workers and their obnoxious mass consumption.

Mr Quilty said many FIFO workers sacrifice time with their families to provide them with a home and private education.

"My brother in law has been working away as a FIFO for six or seven years now, he's just trying to give his kids the best chance, but a lot of that gets missed, you never hear about it," he said.

"I think the sentiment towards FIFOs is very elitist, I don't think anyone works nearly as hard as these guys out in summer when its 50 degrees and they've got to wear a full length boiler suit, I think they earn every cent.

"But the attitude I've heard towards these workers is they don't deserve the money and that someone with a university education should be paid more."

Mr Quilty said FIFO art has roots in early Australian impressionist paintings like Tom Roberts' Shearing the Rams and other depictions of droving and pastoral life in the late 19th century.

"It's based on early Australian impressionists doing the shearers and the drovers and all that kind of romanticised blood and sweat," he said.

"I almost see FIFOs as the bastard cousin of that kind of area, it's almost like documenting that the same way they did, but I want to be a bit more honest.

"I want to give an honest depiction from someone that actually knows and has grown up with these guys."

FIFO the exhibition runs from November 9 to 22 at Linton and Kay Galleries in Perth.